Melancholy Interlude
by MissRedZelda
Summary: Zuko ponders over his past, present and possible future after the takeover of the Earth Kingdom capital. Has he really made the right choice? Or has he made a big mistake? Oneshot


Melancholy Interlude

The Fire Nation was in triumph. For the longest time, they had yearned to overtake the Earth Kingdom, and now they had. All thanks to two certain siblings. The son and daughter of Fire Lord Ozai, Zuko and Azula.

The celebration in the large hall of the once great city of Ba Sing Sai. Zuko and Azula were seated in the honoured seats at the very top of the long table. Azula feasted with appetite, taking the occasional sip of her strong red wine. Zuko very much wondered how she was able to stand her wine that strong. Meanwhile, Zuko just picked at his food and stirred his wine with his teaspoon causing a kind of whirlpool effect.

"Dear brother," came a sadistic sounding voice from across the table. Glancing up from his barely touched dinner, he saw it was his sister, Azula. "Eat, drink. You should be celebrating. If it had not been for you, taking over Ba Sing Se would not have been possible."

The sixteen-year-old-prince glanced back down at his now lukewarm dinner. "Yes, but the Avatar escaped on his flying bison. He has evaded me, _again_."

Azula chuckled. "Yes, that is true." She laced her finger together. "But tracking them down would hardly be a challenge. To catch your prey, you have to silent, and use the element of surprise." A self-confident smile spread across her face. "I should know."

He glanced back up at her with flaming eyes. "I do not need _you_ telling _me_ how to regain _my_ honour!"

A few Fire Nation officials and noblemen glanced over at them from their political discussions and from their dinner as they heard Zuko's sudden outburst. But the royal siblings ignored them, however.

Azula chuckled again. "You speak foolishness. Your honour is restored. You can return home."

Zuko was seething within. "Not until I capture the Avatar!" He roughly rose to his feet, and pounded his fist on the table making the cutlery on the table rattle. The hall had now fallen into a cold silence, and all attention was on the temperamental Fire Nation prince, but he did not care. His attention was firmly on his sadistic sibling.

Azula's thin lips curled into a serious expression, and she lowered her eeybrows. "Believe what you want, dear brother. Believe what you want."

Zuko slowly slid his curled fist off the table. He had finally had enough. Turning on his heel, he started to head out of the hall in a huff.

"And where do you think you are going?" He heard his twisted sibling ask him; however, he ignored her completely.

**- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -**

_Cold nights of loneliness…_

It was hard to believe the take-over had happened just the night before. Outside, the night was quiet and serene. Not a creature stirred and not soul roamed the streets. Not even the muggers dared to face the Fire Nation, even though none scouted the lower streets. They preferred the luxury of the upper class area.

Zuko seemed to be the only soul on the streets. Most of the refugees and citizens had fled the city after the Fire Nation. Any that did stay either were forced to swear allegiance to them, or had become slaves and servants in the palace.

_Dark nights of emptiness…_

Clouds of breath escaped Zuko's mouth as he walked blindly through the shadowy streets. Ba Sing Se seemed so different at night time ever since the take-over. It always seemed lively during the day, and dark and sinister during the night. Now, it was just sad and empty. It was a city of emptiness and unwanted memories.

His blind walk soon brought him to the entrance of a public garden. Tall, bamboo served as fences, and framed the large front gate like a picture frame. Without second thoughts, he strutted through the gate.

Trees surrounded him as he explored his new surroundings, although, the beauty and whatever history lingered in the enclosure mattered not to the Fire Nation prince. He did, however, gaze at his surroundings, but it was not with awe, but with invisible pain. The garden reminded him of the one back at his old home in the Fire Nation.

_I stood there waiting…_

The fountain in the centre reminded him of the time Azula had placed an apple of top of Mai's head, and lit it on fire. He had pushed her into the fountain to stop the flaming apple from burning her. He then had realised it was a cruel joke played by his sister.

'How could she treat her "friends" like that?' Zuko recalled.

Thinking about that incident brought back another memory, his mother. She had been the only one who truly cared about him, even though he tried to push her away, and assumed she cared about her daughter more then him.

_But the summer came too late…_

And then, she vanished from the Fire Nation without a trace.

_Seasons unfold…_

Nobody ever spoke about her afterwards. Not even a whisper, or even a slight hint gave any clue to where or what had happened to her. It had then dawned on young Zuko that the only person who ever showed him love and genuinely cared about his well-being was no longer there. She was gone, and every preferred Azula to him.

And then, Ozai was crowned the Fire Lord after his fathers "mysterious" death.

The mysterious chain of events was never ending.

_Stories lie untold…_

Zuko slowly lowered himself down onto the edge of the fountain, and sat there in silence. Only the cicadas sang, and the crickets opposed, and the spray of the fountain trickled like a remote, serene waterfall. It was nicer outside then it was in the noisy hall with everyone talking about politics, Zuko decided, but it was quite lonely also. But Zuko did not care.

But the memory of his mother gnawed at his heart, as it had done since he was a young child.

Whether she had been dead or alive, nobody mourned for her. Not even his father shed a tear for her. Zuko had been the only one to cry for her, but Azula and his father called him weak.

The story of their mother had never been recorded.

All records of her ever existing had been destroyed. It was as if she had never existed. But her memory lived on inside Zuko's heart.

_And still my heart is waiting…_

Did his propose really belong inside the Fire Nation? And ruling it and the Earth Kingdom with Azula was his true destiny? He had never been able to stand the likes of her, so ruling it _with_ her was defiantly out of the question.

He wanted to return to his old home, and finally be accepted by his father as his son. But to do that, he had to capture the Avatar, and the Avatar had to master all four of the elements. But all that remained for him to master was fire, and who would teach him? Nearly every Firebender was on the Fire Nations side, and wanted to win this century long war. So, who is left to teach him?

Zuko's loyalty was well and truly torn. He knew he had a choice, he knew that much. But it trying to choose that was the hardest part of it all.

_Summer came too late…_


End file.
